Bhubaneswar:8/1/24: Former Odisha MLA Balabhadra Majhi resigned from the primary membership of Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Monday ahead of the upcoming Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.
“I do hereby relinquish from the primary membership of the party,” he said in a letter to BJD president Naveen Patnaik.
Majhi thanked Naveen for allowing him to work for a long period since the formation of the party in 1997.
While the ex-MLA did not cite any reason behind his move to quit the ruling BJD, reports suggested that Majhi had been feeling neglected in the party for quite some time. He reportedly complained of being sidelined in the party.
Majhi had been elected to the state Assembly from Lanjigarh constituency in the election held in 2014 defeating Pradip Kumar Dishari, who was the Congress candidate then. However, the ruling BJD fielded Dishari from the constituency in the 2019 Assembly election when Majhi was denied party ticket. Dishari had won the election. In 2009, Shibaji Majhi of Congress had been elected from the Assembly constituency.